Local culinary celebrity Justin Bonello will take burger making to a new level at this year’s Taste of Durban where he will get hands on with juicy burger patties and tantalizing spices at the Robertsons Ultimate Burger Class, giving participants the awesome opportunity to learn how to create their own burgers. Unilever chefs have created tasting sessions to come up with delicious homemade burger recipes to be recreated at the classes from exotic Portuguese Chicken Burgers to tasty Tomato and Rosemary lamb burgers.
Justin, who describes himself as a cook, presenter, traveller, father, husband, film-maker, and gardener – “but not particularly in that order” – was featured at the Taste of Cape Town in April, and Robertsons Herbs & Spices will now bring this exciting feature to Suncoast in Durban on 24 July. Using the wealth of knowledge, which has led to the publishing of seven cookbooks, Justin will enable class participants to easily make their own burgers in the comfort of their homes.
Throughout the fun, interactive classes, Justin’s appetite for life, food, and travel – the same cravings that have driven him to gather everything he cares most deeply about, and make his world revolve around them – will be evident. “I’m really excited to be doing these Ultimate Burger Classes with Robertsons at the Taste festivals this year. Beyond the fact that I get to ‘show and tell’ what a beautiful and amazing delivery system burgers are for all those delicious flavour combinations, the bigger thrill for me is having the opportunity of meeting the rainbow nation one on one without a television set between us, and considering that this year I’ve got some new tricks up my sleeve for Season 4 of Ultimate Braai Master, this might just be your window into what I’m going to put this year’s contestants through…” said Justin.
The 43-year-old’s passion for the outdoors and South Africa’s untamed beauty is rooted in his childhood where he spent weekends on the Breede River and holidays on the wild coast in the Eastern Cape, and as he grew, so too did his desire for good, wholesome, down-to-earth food.
At the tender age of 14, Justin became involved in the film industry and, pursuing his dreams and desires, worked his way to becoming a film-maker, veteran presenter, author, and Head of Production at Cooked in Africa Films. He has presented more than 10 television series and produced more than 23 which have been broadcast in over 100 countries. And he has no plans to stop – at least not anytime soon.
Using the simple truths and connections of life, travel, and food, Justin produced his first travel show, Cooked in 2003. He quickly became a local culinary celebrity when BBC Lifestyle grabbed the opportunity to showcase this home grown series, and the First Season quickly grew into five. He also converted his unique outdoor cooking experiences into a cookbook entitled Cooked in Africa, which was an instant bestseller. His second book, the pocket Weekend Away, received rave reviews and his third, Out of the Frying Pan was, again, an instant success.
Overall, his show reel of successful productions and programming has been broadcast across various genres on platforms such as BBC International, BBC Lifestyle, Sky Network, National Geographic, Discovery, Food Network, Travel Channel and local South African broadcasters MNET, e.tv and SABC – to name just a few, with his most recent project entitled Karoo: Land of Thirst, exploring the food and culture of South Africa’s hinterland, coming to South African airwaves soon!
The original, home-grown flagship reality TV cooking competition Ultimate Braai Master, which debuted on SABC 3 in 2012, has seen three Seasons take South African audiences by storm and the Fourth Season is currently in production. More recently, the flagship show was selected by one of the world’s largest independent production and format rights companies, all3mediaInternational to become part of its global format catalogue, a first for any locally produced original production. This will see the Ultimate Braai Master replicated as a successful global format in territories around the world. The fourth South African season, Ultimate Braai Master: Game On sponsored by Robertsons Herbs & Spices is currently in production.
The next few months are going to be ordinarily crazy busy for Justin as, not only is his late cookbook entitled Cooked in the Karoo already on store shelves and his eighth, Road Tripping due to be released this month, but he is also spear-heading two new projects in the conservation and sustainability genres. The first is Leopard 350, a project which highlights the plight of, and invites an urgent call-to-action to save, the last 350 leopards that are endemic to the Cape Fold Mountain Belt, while the second is Neighborhood Farm which will see Justin sharing what he has learned over the years to make issues like sustainability, living and eating healthily accessible, affordable and fun for the average South African. He said both new ventures were “very important” in his future, a future which includes a lot of on-the-road, crew-in-tow fun, food, travel, exploration and boundary-breaking.
But even though he has all of that on his plate, Justin will still fit in time to transform the humble burger into the ultimate one at the Taste of Durban, with two Robertsons Ultimate Burger Classes on Friday, 24 July at 7:30pm and 8:30pm. Attend the class and you could walk away with a free copy of Justin’s latest book, ‘Road Tripping’, all class participants will receive a free braai caddie with the latest Masterblends range and the interactive experience of a burger making class. Added to that, one overall participant will win a fantastic Jet Master Portable Griller, so once you have learned to create the ultimate burger, you can cook it on this amazing braai.
For more info go to the Robertsons Herbs & Spices website: www.robertsons.co.za and Taste plus Robertsons Facebook pages.